Millers land defender

23 May 2013

Rotherham United sign Richard Brindley...

Rotherham United have completed the signing of defender Richard Brindley on a two-year deal.

Brindley, 20, successfully completed a medical today at New York Stadium and put pen-to-paper to become Steve Evans’ second summer signing following Joe Skarz, who officially made his loan move permanent at the back end of last month.

Right-back Brindley impressed last season when he signed a short-term deal with Chesterfield making 12 appearances for the Spireites, after he was spotted playing for non-league Chelmsford City.

Evans admitted he has followed the full-back for a long time and fought off competition for his signature from a Championship club.

“We met Richard and his representatives over the past few days and the bottom line was he was either going to sign for us or a Championship club,” Evans told www.themillers.co.uk

“I think he felt it would be a real fight to be involved in the first-team at the Championship club, where as we were talking about him playing in the first-team now.

“He is a young man that we first watched when he was at Norwich and we received a ringing endorsement of his ability from Paul Lambert. We followed his progress when he went into non-league, our Chief Scout saw him during Chelmsford’s FA Cup run but he signed for Chesterfield before I had chance to watch him myself.

“We watched him at Chesterfield on four occasions and we knew then that he was a top talent and it is no surprise that there was significant interest from League One and Championship clubs.

“Thankfully for football development reasons it means now that he has put pen-to-paper and signed for the Millers.”

His signing further strengthens the Millers rearguard after the full capture of Skarz from Bury, leaving boss Evans delighted with the way his defence is shaping up ahead of the League One campaign.

“We look at our defensive unit now and we are delighted with what Mark Bradley can give us a right-back, Johnny Mullins was also immense at right-back,” added Evans.

“Added to that we have a young lad in Richard who I think will play at a much higher level, and hopefully that will be with the Millers.”

There will be a full interview with Richard Brindley on Millers Player shortly.